Just over two years ago I emigrated to South Australia from the UK with my family. At that time the watch market outside Sydney, Melbourne and Perth was very limited. In fact most of the timepieces that sold were from brands like Rolex, Omega, Breitling and Tag Heuer. Fortunately the attitude of buyers is slowly changing and that is down to the efforts of many progressive retailers/distributors including J. Farren Price, The Hour Glass, Vendome, Avstev, Mad Associates (Sydney) Swiss Watch Box (Perth), Watchpartners and Big Watch World (Melbourne). All the owners of these businesses have taken a massive leap of faith by investing in numerous creative independent watchmakers. Essentially this passion has spurred a few talented individuals to set up their own watch labels.
Back in April, I featured a brand called The Melbourne Watch Company on Total Watch Reviews. Apart from Bausele (which is targeted at a completely different demographic) they are the only Australian based watchmakers. The business is owned and operated by the dynamic and entrepreneurial Sujain Krishnan. When I last spoke to him he informed me that he had achieved enormous success on the crowd funder website Kickstarter. In fact their second model called the Hawthorn had sold out within 12 hours of its release. This has prompted Sujain to launch a third timepiece (Portsea) in quick succession.
A few weeks ago Sujain very kindly sent me a Portsea to test for a few days. When it arrived I was very impressed with the overall quality and appearance of the watch. The timepiece has a diameter of 40mm, which is very similar to the proportions of The Melbourne Watch Company’s previous models. Realistically these classical dimensions should appeal to a wide variety of buyers including the lucrative unisex market. Generally I found the watch sat very comfortably on my wrist and I didn’t experience friction from the lugs. Primarily this is down to the elegant case size and use of 316L stainless steel in production. With the exception of high-octane sports activities I feel this timepiece would be suitable for most occasions.
Aesthetically the Portsea is the most accomplished and attractive watch from the company so far. Although I like the design of the Flinders and the Hawthorn, this timepiece seems to have a more sophisticated appearance. The white ceramic dial is punctuated by sharp black numerals and indexes. I love the raised sub counters, which display the day and month indications. Other eye-catching features include the delicate blue hour/minute hands and large date window positioned at 6 o’clock. Overall the composition shows maturity and the attention to detail is first rate.
Beneath the refined façade lies a modified self-winding Japanese Calibre Miyota 9120. This movement comprises 26-jewels and oscillates at a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour (4Hz). Even though I really like the watch I would prefer it even more with a sapphire crystal case back. Functionally the Portsea features hours, minutes, seconds, day, month and date indications. The watch also has a power reserve of 40 hours and is water resistant to a depth of 100 metres.
The Portsea has a high quality German made black leather strap with matching stainless buckle. Priced very competitively at: $550AU (approximately $515).
For more information visit the company’s website: http://www.melbournewatch.com.au